****ing nailed it. The hype from this forum always inspires me to check them out, but in the end I don't think it's my cup of tea. But then I'll play CK II meticulously on pause for 30 minutes, I don't get it.

I'm sure it helps that I'm a programmer and ZT games are, in many cases, outright programming games. I posted about Exapunks at work and two other people were like "oh ****, there goes my August".

I'm programming for a living, too.

Oh, right, I forgot. I dunno then! I could also see coming home from work and being like "ehhhh I'm done programming for the day" too.

I don't use my brain at work

Since there are programmers itt,best place to ask as any. My wife has become disillusioned with her current job, and the only part she enjoys is doing VBA/creating macros for tasks currently in her department and wants to get into coding for a living.

Where would you suggest is a good starting place? She is in her 30s with a degree (social work, though she isn't in social work now. She currently works as a treasury analyst) and isn't super keen on spending the money and time to get another Bachelors right now, but she doesn't know of the best ways to get her foot in the door otherwise.

Any advice you guys might have could be a big help. Should she pursue certificates? If so, what language is most in demand? What language is easiest to learn? Is it easier to break in with larger companies or smaller? Does the industry have any interest in a early-mid thirties woman with little formal training but who will bust her ass to learn everything on her own (she entered her last job 4 years ago never having used excel, and now is a whiz at VBA totally self taught.)

I guess this is pretty rambly for a VG thread, so sorry for the detail. But thanks.

My 2-cents. I don't promise it is all good info or advice, but I tried.
Work at a small company, getting close to mid-level experience. CS degree at 29.

COMPUTER SCIENCE
---------------------

Getting started
When I started getting serious about it I bought a Python book from Barnes and Nobles that walked you through making simple games like Black Jack. The nice thing about it is that you can learn some programming basics while actually making something so it made it more interesting. Python is one of the easier languages to get started with in my opinion (easy to read/understand) and it is also used in real life jobs.

Languages
The higher level languages have a lot of similarities so it is better to focus on computer science stuff and use whatever language makes most sense to you. Languages that focus on Object Oriented Programming(OOP) are usually taught in college like Java and C++. I had projects in Python too. Another route to go is functional programming which takes a bit of a different mindset (compared to OOP). Scala and JavaScript both do functional and OOP. JavaScript might not be the best language to learn with though it is not strict about what you do.

Interview
For sure having a degree helps get an interview. In theory if you were able to teach yourself everything (all material/courses probably free online too), then that is the only benefit of the degree. You will need to understand computer science basics to make it through an interview. Speaking from personal experience, getting started a bit older is doable (my first CS job was at 29), but you might want to work harder and get experience faster than the 23 year olds you are working with.

Smaller companies will be easier to get into. I had a gap on my resume and got grilled relentlessly by larger companies about it. I also had a hard time getting an offer (I suck at interviewing). Interviewed at a 10 person company and they were practically begging me to work there, gave me job offer on the spot lol. To be fair I was willing to work for pretty cheap. Small companies are also VERY GOOD for getting experience. You get more responsibilities and opportunities. Small companies offer less job stability though and you have to be prepared to go back to job hunt.

Learning CS
In the past I've found college course materials free online from real colleges. There are also things like this that might look good on a resume https://www.udacity.com/course/softw...process--ud805 (I'm just throwing these out there as ideas, not direct suggestions)

I don't know how practical it is to be self taught and get CS job offers. I have met a guy who got into cyber security. He had no degree, but he was so good he had companies fighting over him. Probably makes over 100k a year and I think he is probably mid 20's. Cyber security has huge demand by the way.

NON-COMPUTER SCIENCE
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Front end web
Learn HTML, CSS, JavaScript and get into Web design or Front end developer/JavaScript developer. Developer is a bit harder because you do need to start understanding functional and OOP to an extent. These types of jobs don't really require a deep computer science background so I am guessing you might make it through an interview without getting grilled about data structures and graphs. A great thing about these jobs is there is a lot of free material to learn from and you can easily build things on your own to learn. Making webpages with ReactJS or Polymer is just plain fun in my opinion.

Cyber security
There is also cybersecurity which pays well and is in high demand. I don't know much about it though or how much computer science education you need. It is just my impression that you can get by without a CS degree background.

I don't have any advice since starting late in life is the opposite of what I did, but I think a couple people in the programming thread have done something like this and would probably have some good advice for you.

Apparently Enter the Gungeon got a huge update a couple days ago, adding new items and synergies between them and the ability to slide over tables as well as a bunch of QoL enhancements. Definitely a good time to revisit or pick it up if you’re interested!

I still can't beat it. BoI is np np but the gungeon owns my soul.

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Yeah I have a love hate relationship with it, just 20 hours in, I don't think I ever reached 5th floor (or maybe once?) and I play it a few times and quit for a few weeks/months and repeat. I saw the update and it excites me somehow. Still a bit far in the current queue of games.

Yeah I’m not sure how many runs I’ve failed but I still play it on and off. The sheer amount of items really helps the replay ability. It’s difficult but I don’t find it frustrating.

Agreed. Fantastic game indeed and well worth 7.50

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finally started Else Heart.Break(), it is very slow moving. Not much in the way of direction aside from "go here, it's kind of in that direction, here's a map that doesn't show where you are, enjoy"

No Mans Sky No1 in Steam Charts.

Is PUBG worth playing anymore? I won a free key from GMG. Not a bad way to start a Monday.

The mobile version is surprisingly great but yeah don’t know anything about Steam. Would be surprised if it wasn’t at least somewhat active though.

I've played for around 5 hours since the update of Enter the Gungeon and it seems significantly better and more balanced. I reached the final boss for the first time and even almost killed him on the second try.

Serious question, I still rock my iphone 5s. You can play fps on mobile?

I like the game, but found it pretty hard, I don't think I made it past level 2. Maybe I did and died quick on 3 can't remember... Appreciate the info though, I will have to give it a try again

La mulana 2 seems pretty great 90 minutes in, seems much more accessible than the 1st



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I play it 3rd person on my new iPad...

It absolutely is.

Word of advice, if you are buying PUBG. Stick to the Sanhok mini royale map. I rarely ever go back to the 2 big old maps. Yes its still incredibly active, que times even at 4am on a tuesday take like 5 seconds for me. Even overwatch doesnt do that.

If you like fast action and gunplay combined with games that take maybe 13-15 minutes to complete.... Mini royale is the answer. The other maps can double in length and generally imo are less noob friendly as theirs more close range combat @sanhok .

I got a package from Zachtronics today!

2/3 of the items inside are labeled "do not open until <event>" though, so at the moment I'm basically just looking at the game manual. At a quick glance, it seems most similar to Shenzhen I/O. Super psyched!

...what is the <event>?